This invention relates to a system and a method for designing a structure and more particularly, to a system and a method for designing an automotive body structure which provides enhanced stiffness and weight reduction by optimizing the application of adhesive bond technology throughout the body structure.
Structures, such as automotive vehicle body structures, often include a multitude of components or members which are selectively coupled together to form the respective structure. For example and without limitation, automotive body structures typically include numerous panels, supports, rails, members and other structures which are selectively and operatively joined or attached to each other to cooperatively form a vehicle body. Such automotive body structures are typically designed and/or formed to comply with various stiffness, strength and/or performance requirements or criteria.
Many prior automotive body structures utilize primarily conventional welding processes and procedures to operatively join or attach the various portions of the structures together. However, it has been found that the selective use of adhesive bond technology in the formation of an automotive body structure may allow the body structure to be formed having a reduced overall weight (e.g., by using lighter gage metal portions or components), while still satisfying stiffness and strength requirements. Although the selective use of adhesives may provide the foregoing benefits, the locations in which the adhesives should be applied to provide these benefits is often difficult to ascertain.
Formerly, the use and/or location of use of adhesives in an automotive body structure was typically determined on a xe2x80x9ctrial and errorxe2x80x9d basis. For instance, an automotive body designer would construct a body structure using adhesives in one or more locations in the body. The resulting body was then tested, and a new body was constructed based upon the results of the test using lighter gage metal for certain structures, panels and/or components of the body. Depending on the test results (e.g., the stiffness and performance of the resulting body), the new body would include adhesive bonds in fewer, additional or different locations, as well as heavier or lighter structures, panels and/or components. The new body was then tested and the foregoing process was repeated until a satisfactory design was achieved. This xe2x80x9ctrial and errorxe2x80x9d type design strategy undesirably increases the time and expense required to design and develop automotive body structures and components, thereby decreasing the efficiency and flexibility of the design process.
There is therefore a need to provide a system and a method for designing an automotive body structure which overcomes at least some of the various and previously delineated drawbacks of prior methods and strategies, and which provides a body structure having improved stiffness and reduced weight by optimizing the use of adhesive bond technology within the body structure.
It is a first object of the invention to provide a system and a method for designing a structure which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior design methods.
It is a second object of the invention to provide a system and a method for designing an automotive body structure which allows the structure to be relatively quickly and easily generated.
It is a third object of the invention to provide a system and a method for designing an automotive body structure which has improved stiffness and reduced weight relative to prior body structures.
It is a fourth object of the invention to provide a system and a method for designing an automotive body structure which optimizes the use of adhesive bond technology within the body structure.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a system for designing a body structure is provided. The body structure is of the type which is formed by a plurality of members (e.g., body panels) which are selectively interconnected by a plurality of first joints (e.g., adhesive joints) and second joints (e.g., welded joints). The system includes: a first portion which selectively receives first data which describes attributes of the plurality of members and second data which describes attributes of the plurality of first and second joints; a second portion which generates a model of the body structure based on the first and second data; a third portion which receives third data corresponding to operating loads and which simulates the operating loads being imparted upon the body structure; and a fourth portion which records certain performance characteristics of the body structure which are measured when the model is exposed to the simulated operating loads.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for designing a body structure having a plurality of seams (or flanges). The method includes the steps of generating a first computer model of the body structure in which each of the plurality of seams is adhesively bonded; performing a simulated test of the computer model of the body structure; analyzing results of the simulated test; ranking each of the adhesively bonded seams based upon a contribution to body stiffness; selecting a combination of adhesively bonded seams based upon the ranking; generating a second computer model of the body structure having a selective combination of adhesively bonded seams; and analyzing the second computer model to determine whether the second computer model satisfies certain cost and performance requirements.
These and other objects, aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following specification and the attached drawings.